On July 12, 2022, on East 14th Street in New York City, an Amazon employee pulled a cart of packages ready for delivery.
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Amazon Prime Day, the 48-hour discount blitz that began on Tuesday, is the “major cause” of worker injuries. Preliminary results Senate investigation.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Tuesday released the interim results of a yearlong investigation into Amazon warehouse working conditions, coinciding with the company’s annual Prime Day sale.
Amazon provided the committee with internal data from Prime Day 2019, showing that its overall injury rate, which includes injuries the company is not required to disclose to OSHA, was “slightly less” than 45 injuries per 100 workers, equivalent to “Nearly half of the company’s warehouse workers,” the report states.
“Amazon continues to treat its workers as disposable and has total disdain for their safety and well-being,” Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, chairman of the HELP committee, said in a statement. “This is unacceptable and must change.”
The report said Amazon provided internal data showing its warehouses were understaffed during Prime Day and the holiday shopping season, “endangering workers who must manage increased shipments without increased support.” The report cites an internal Amazon document titled “Lessons Learned from Prime Day 2021,” which states that between May and June 2021, the week of that year’s Prime Day event, Amazon “only met its hiring goals 71.2%”.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the report ignored the progress Amazon has made.
“It draws sweeping and inaccurate conclusions based on unsubstantiated anecdotes, misrepresents documents from several years ago, and contains factual errors and faulty analysis,” Nantel said. “For example, one of the falsehoods in the report Statements imply we don’t have enough staff to handle busy shopping periods.” Nantel added that since 2019, Amazon has reduced its incident and lost time incident rates in the U.S. by 28% for any incident requiring anything other than basic first aid. Includes more serious injuries requiring the employee to miss at least one day of work, 75%.
Amazon has faced scrutiny in recent years over its record of workplace injuries and its treatment of warehouse and delivery workers. It has been accused of safety violations by federal regulators. OSHA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are investigating conditions at several warehouses, while the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Amazon underreported injuries.
The company said in March that its injury rate had improved and announced planned investment Security measures exceed $750 million this year. It is also appealing a series of OSHA citations related to safety hazards and violations.
Amazon said it has begun automating some tasks and is also deploying more robotic systems in warehouse facilities that it says can improve safety, though prospects have been debated.
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